Pfft—
Buchi's vision went black as the howling slash split him clean in two, along with a third of the bow.
The Catman Brothers exited the stage in mere seconds.
"Impossible!"
"Sham and Buchi are just… dead?"
The pirates who had encircled Hiroto were now trembling with dread.
"N-no problem, we still have Jango-sama."
Everything would be fine once Jango acted.
That was the instinctive thought of every pirate aboard.
Boom!
With its fore-structure gone, the bow's platform collapsed, sending the unprepared Jango tumbling down.
When he scrambled to his feet, Buchi's corpse lay before him, split like a butchered carcass.
He stared at the body, then at the razor-smooth cut across the severed deck. In a flash, he recalled the identical incision on that sunken ship.
Jango suddenly understood: it hadn't been an unsolved mystery or a freak accident, this "prey" had carved it.
No, not prey. A monster that could cleave a vessel with one slash.
They were the prey!
"F-Flying slash!"
"A cut only legendary swordmasters can unleash."
"M-monster…"
The pirates who had witnessed it finally reacted, backing away in terror.
"Can we talk this out?"
Jango said, face ashen, "We can negotiate, no need to keep fighting to the death."
Hiroto hefted his long blade, mocking, "I preferred your cocky swagger. Tell you what—surrender and you lose only half. Leave me half your body."
Whether a man can live split in two wasn't his concern.
"Then there's nothing to discuss."
Jango punched the deck and roared, "We outnumber him! Guns! Cannons! He can't kill us all at once!"
The planks gave way and Jango plunged through the jagged hole.
A rattling volley of gunfire followed as terrified pirates tried to gun the monster down.
Prey?
Now they were the prey.
Hiroto vanished again, blitzing at terrifying speed. After the hail of bullets missed, blood sprayed in every direction.
No pirate warranted a second cut, one flash equaled one crimson fountain.
Even when a cannon was wheeled out, there was no time to aim.
Terror thick in the air, Jango crawled from a corner, face contorted.
"Gather round! I'm using hypnosis!"
The wavering pirates surged toward him.
That miracle was the reason they served him and hadn't broken yet.
With only eye contact, Jango's hypnotism could make them stronger.
"Grow mighty, fearless, forget dread! One, two, Jango!"
He swung a small bladed ring in mesmerizing arcs.
At "Jango", the dozens of watching pirates roared to their feet. Their frames bulked, arms swelling with grotesque muscle. Eyes turned pure white, pupils gone.
One of them punched the main-mast, it cracked and toppled toward the sea.
At least E-rank strength—far beyond what Hiroto had possessed before.
And he was only one of many.
"You've been buffed! Go die... uh, kill that bastard!"
Jango snarled, pointing. "He's tiring, he can't wipe us all!"
The frenzied pirates, fear erased, charged.
Meanwhile, a small boat bobbed unnoticed beside the pirate ship.
Arno aboard it was calling his superior, he knew Captain Morgan had a grudge against the Black Cat Pirates.
Morgan lusted for glory, loathed pirates, yet ruled his own men with cruelty. Promotion under such a man required both flattery and tangible profit.
This was a perfect chance to reap the spoils!
Let the Beheader Swordsman bleed the Black Cats, then Captain Morgan nets them all.
…
A shrieking gale swept the deck.
Hiroto zig-zagged through the crowd, a black blur in the wind.
He noticed Jango's ritual but chose not to interfere.
A sword is for killing, swordsmanship grows only through battle.
The newly empowered berserkers stormed in.
Hiroto struck—one slash.
This time the pirate endured it, losing an arm yet still swinging back.
Though the punch missed, it ignited cheers.
"We can do it! Kill him like Captain Jango said!"
"All together!"
"Yes, just like that!"
Jango hung back, keeping low.
He clutched a Chakram, ready to dash in for a lethal strike.
After all, he carried a 9-million bounty himself.
Yet while berserkers and Jango rejoiced, Hiroto solidified amid them.
Steel-Severing Slash!
A howling slash erupted, limbs and torsos whirling sky-high.
One sweep erased seven or eight frenzied pirates. But that was merely the end of the beginning.
Hiroto vanished once more, the howling winds suddenly ceasing, or rather, converging.
"There he is!"
Among the berserkers, one spotted him.
Hiroto stood atop the ruined bow, long blade sheathed, poised for a drawing cut.
The shrieking gales obeyed like soldiers.
Steel-Severing Slash!
A far fiercer slash burst forth—a "wind-dragon" rising from the deck.
Ten-odd metres long and two wide, the slash raked the ship.
It ploughed through planking, grinding everything into blood-mist.
The fifty-metre vessel split like a gutted fish, yawning open in a ghastly wound.
The berserk pirates all vanished within that slash.
Boom!
As the slash dissipated, the Captain's quarters at the stern collapsed with a bang, burying Jango within the dust.
"Cough, cough... Bastard..."
The dust settled, and Jango crawled out from the ruins, struggling to squirm along the ground.
He was covered in holes, and blood pooled on the ground. The slash from just now had also dealt him damage.
'This kind of monster-like strength... how could someone with a 7 million bounty have this? Marines, what are you doing!'
In Jango's experience, only those monsters from the Grand Line in the newspapers possessed such strength.
Yet such a monster appeared before them and was even treated as prey by them...
Sham, Buchi, you deserve to die!
Jango had to admit, he regretted this operation.
Tap... Tap...
The sound of footsteps approached unhurriedly.
Jango looked up and saw the Beheader Swordsman holding a long blade, standing before him.
"Spare me, I can..."
He managed to squeeze out a sentence before being grabbed by the neck and lifted up.
[Gluttony].
Hiroto absorbed Jango's remnants, and then a message popped up before his eyes.
[Entry: Hypnosis (Green) acquired!]